Hackers taking part in a friendly competition aimed at highlighting OS and software vulnerabilities did some real damage to a variety of computer-based web browsers — including Safari, which took all of 10 seconds to bust on a MacBook — but where smartphones are concerned, the hackers were stumped. The competition took place at CanSecWest in Vancouver, Canada and big cash prizes were up for grabs. In fact, each successful execution of an attack on a smartphone was worth a cool $10,000. Apparently the closest someone came however, was a BlackBerry Bold exploit attempt that failed despite reportedly having worked on a Storm in the past. There was also an exploit performed on Safari for Mac that is thought to work on the iPhone as well but the iPhone hack was not attempted; the rules of the contest stated that each exploit could be used only once. In the end, not a single contestant was able to crack a smartphone during the two-day hackathon. Good news though, hackers, as CanSecWest and ZDI have already stated that smartphones will be included once again in next year’s competition. That gives you about 12 months to hone those skills and put those tiny mobile processors to work.

Looks like AT&T may be overhauling the data plans for its non-smartphone lineup. AT&T is reportedly ditching the name “MEdia Net” and rebranding all of its data packages with the brilliantly simplistic term “Data”. Accompanying the name change is a price drop, at least on AT&T’s unlimited messaging and data plan. The current MEdia Max Unlimited plan will become “Messaging and Data Unlimited” and will see a $5 price drop from $35 to $30. Family Talk and Business Talk customers who already have unlimited messaging can add on unlimited data for an additional $10 per month per line. Sounds a bit like Verizon Wireless’ Connect plan, with which AT&T is admittedly trying to compete. It is nice change to see some good old-fashioned competition driving prices down for consumers.

Microsoft higher-ups might not exactly be shaking in their boots upon hearing this news, but market research firm Net Applications has just released new information that puts the Windows OS market share at its lowest point in 15 years. That low point – 89.62%. Yes, Microsoft still holds the overwhelming lion’s share of the computer OS market and that most definitely won’t be changing any time soon. Since 2004 when Net Applications began OS market share data however, Microsoft’s market share has been steadily declining. Windows reportedly had an astounding 96.4% of the OS market in October of 2004 when Net Applications’ first report on the subject was issued. In other words, Microsoft is losing an average of 1.7% of the market each year, a trend that it certainly hopes to reverse with its recent advertising campaign and eventually with the release of Windows 7. An interesting related note – Vista currently holds approximately 20.45%, up 2.12% over the past three months. Microsoft’s recent ad campaigns have been going strong during that period so this may appear to be a small victory until XP’s market share loss of 2.36% over the same period is considered. As for Microsoft’s largest competitor, Apple’s market share now sits at 8.87% up from 6.80% in November of last year and 3.2% in November of 2004 when the first Net Applications OS report was published.